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Ceres In The News

The New York state attorney general's office, which told Peabody Energy this week to give investors more details about how its sales would suffer from measures to curb global warming, is now mulling whether the tactic it used with the coal firm could be applied to companies beyond the energy sector.

In the midst of the ExxonMobil investigation, the NY State Attorney General released investigation results that found one of the world's largest coal companies had misled the public and its shareholders about the risks climate change could pose to its bottom line.

What progress are we seeing from board directors, in terms of demonstrating sustainability leadership? A recently published report includes insights from dozens of interviews with senior corporate leaders and governance experts; Dr. Bob Eccles discusses how the findings are timely and valuable for developing robust sustainability oversight.

In the lead-up to the historic United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December, it’s not just national governments that have pledged to aim for a sustainable future -- 10 of the largest fossil fuel corporations in the world also have lined up behind the effort.

If the US Congress is to take meaningful action to curb climate change, the support of corporate America and Republicans will be required. This is why a meeting of food industry executives and politicians on Capitol Hill may be the first glimmer of a bipartisan approach to climate action.

Like Pope Francis, major corporations around the world are stepping up their calls for governments to take dramatic steps to address climate change. Among them is Mars Inc., the maker of M&Ms, Snickers bars and other foods, which is well known for its reputation for keeping quiet on most business matters. But when it comes to the environment, the company is outspoken.

Though state lawmakers caved to the oil industry by spiking a plan to sharply reduce gasoline use, there’s another option for Sacramento in reducing climate change and promoting alternative sources to fill gas tanks. State regulators are close to extending a measure that cuts carbon levels in everyday driving fuel. The low-carbon standard is among a batch of policies designed to cut carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse-gas culprit blamed for rising temperatures and whipsawing weather. Extending the mandate to cut levels in gas is an essential part of state strategies to curb climate change.

Investors make big decisions based on the outlook of such fundamentals as interest rates and energy costs. What is more fundamental than water? For many companies, not much. Water disruptions potentially can have a significant effect on a company’s supply chain. As a result, money managers, fund managers and individual investors are putting more weight on the potential for water shortages as a risk factor for investments.

El Nino will solve the drought. You’re hearing this sentiment around California these days. After four years of bone-dry winters, warmer Pacific Ocean waters are expected to bring lots of precipitation to California this winter—a huge opportunity for replenishing California’s depleted reservoirs and aquifers.

This week, California legislators received a pair of letters signed by dozens of corporations in support of two bills that would require the state to further reduce its greenhouse gas emissions through 2050.

Californians are all too familiar with what happens when water is not treated as the precious resource it is. But most of us are unaware of the enormous power we have through our day-to-day purchases, social media campaigns and petition drives to push food companies to take more responsibility in protecting global water supplies.

The math for Africa’s clean energy future is adding up. Solar lamps are spreading like fireflies across Ghana. A first-of-its-kind solar farm in Rwanda is providing electricity for 15,000 rural homes. Utility-scale solar and wind projects are being built in Morocco and Kenya.

Carbon emissions have fallen even as the economy has improved since the recession, according to a new report, bucking historical trends as well as arguments by opponents of President Obama's environmental and climate regulations who say the administration's policies would crimp the economy.

New urban water restrictions went into effect for cities across California on Monday, but the state will have to do more to prepare for a possible "new normal" of increased demand and dry periods that are longer, more frequent and more intense, a group of scientists said.

Who has enough clout to get Fortune 500 giants like PepsiCola, Nike, Disney, Ikea and Apple to change their environmental practices? That credit would go to a Boston-based nonprofit with 80 employees and an $11 million budget, Ceres.

We live in strange times. One in 3 people around the world are overweight, and around the world 24 percent of calories are wasted between the farm and the refrigerator. Meanwhile, some 805 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life: abundance and scarcity, hand in hand.

In a report released Thursday, Ceres, a sustainable business consortium based in Boston, found that most food companies aren’t prepared to deal with the water risks that it expects will lead to higher water and food prices.

Levi Strauss & Co. recently joined Ceres’ “Connect the Drops” campaign to show our support for the importance of water conservation in California. As a company, we’re committed to increasing awareness around this critical issue. That’s why, after undertaking a new Product Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), we’ve announced a new campaign to educate consumers about the environmental impact of their jeans.